Edith Wharton Essay

In Edith Wharton’s Ethan Frome, failure to reach one’s potential causes mental and physical wear. Ethan’s life exemplifies this concept. He is stuck in Starkfield where he does not want to be, living in poverty when he is capable of so much more. He must pay for Zeena’s medical expenses and help her with housekeeping, while also maintaining the farm. In the Prologue, the theme is presented through Harmon Gow and the narrator’s dialogue. For instance, Harmon Gow says, ‘“Guess he’s been in Starkfield

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton opens to a bleak New England winter in Starkfield. The novel’s protagonist, Ethan Frome, resides here. Ethan resided “in Starkfield for too many winters.” In fact, the author projects the image of a hell through her description of Starkfield. The city’s name finds its root in a word used to describe a barren or naked place. The author also compounds the image of a barren wasteland by having the story take place in winter, which in the New England region acts as a crippling

“Shallow men believe in luck or in circumstance. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson). In the novel Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, it tells a story of a futile love between Ethan Frome and Mattie Silver. Ethan Frome was born on a farm in Starkfield, Massachusetts and has spent nearly the totality of his life there. He went away to college at Worchester but begrudgingly, returned after his father’s death and stayed to take care of his mother whose health was rapidly

In the novella Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Ethan’s impulsive actions affect his life negatively. Ethan should not have married Zeena so soon after his mother’s death. If Ethan hadn't married Zeena he could have had a happy life and married his true love. Another impulsive choice Ethan made was attempting suicide. Ethan’s first impulsive decision was to marry Zeena as soon as his mother died. Since Ethan did this he wasn’t able to follow his ambitions. “When they married it was agreed that, as

In Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton is saying that unhappiness resulting from having to choose between love and unwanted responsibility cannot be avoided. Through her use of imagery, she illustrates the difficulty of making choices between what is expected and what is desired. Ethan becomes happy when his responsibility to his wife Zeena goes away when she leaves town, and he is able to pursue his love for Mattie. The world is described differently whether Ethan depending on who Ethan is with, and imagery

In the novel, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Ethan Frome conflicts with facing reality as opposed to obtaining a false dream. Ethan has to face the reality that he is not allowed to leave with his new founded love, Maddie. He had tried to obtain the false dream of running away with her, but this love is forbidden and he was left to stay at home with his wife, Zeena. Ethan faces reality when he realizes that he cannot leave his wife even if he does not love her. Ethan had married his wife out

In the novel, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton the recurring theme of the classic war between passion and responsibility is advertised. In 1885 Edith married Edward Robbins Wharton. She was 23. Edward was from a good family and was of the same social class as Edith, but he was 12 years older than she was. Ethan Frome struggles to make a living as a farmer while his wife Zeena whines and complains about her imaginary sickness. When Zeena's destitute cousin, Mattie Silver comes to live with the Ethan

The book Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, is not a happy one. You realize this fact from the very first chapter as you meet the tragic hero of the story. The dark tragedy that looms over the story is further emphasized when you are shown how things came to be, but you already know the outcome. As you read and see for yourself the sequence of event, gaps are filled in and a theme emerges from within the story. You see the world through Ethan’s eyes and it becomes easy to tell that his inward desires

Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence, is based primarily around the “Old” New York in the 1870s. She wrote the book around 1920s, in which she includes a love triangle which displays the character’s inability to make a decision. At first, the central character, Newland Archer, is in the midst of announcing his engagement to May when he gets introduced to her cousin Countess Olenska. When he is introduced to the Countess' problems, he views them as an annoyance. However, they prompt him to start looking

Edith Wharton, in her novel Ethan Frome, places such an importance in the setting, specifically the locations and climate, that it seems to function as another character. However, upon closer examination of the prologue, it is easy to see that the setting is actually a reflection of Edith Frome’s emotional state. Wharton’s attempts at linking location and climate to Ethan are aided by her skillful use of a number of rhetorical devices ultimately underscoring his brokenness, isolation/imprisonment